


i want your midnights

by philindas



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 15:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13251030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philindas/pseuds/philindas
Summary: Phil Coulson has never been Melinda May's midnight kiss.





	i want your midnights

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a little late, but I just haven't had time to finish and post before now. My first fic of 2018! A little New Year's Eve sap. Title is from Taylor Swift's New Year's Day.

Phil Coulson had been in awe of Melinda May from the moment he’d lain eyes on her.

She was beautiful, intelligent, snarky, and somehow thought his nerdiness was cute. They’d been fast friends, and she’d managed to convince him to come to the New Year’s Eve rager that some of the older cadets were throwing.

He wasn’t a party person, but he nursed a lukewarm beer and leaned against a wall and watched as Melinda dazzled a handful of Sci-Ops students with a sparkling smile, his own lips curving into a smile unconsciously. Phil took a pull from his bottle, feeling the weight of a long day pressing onto his shoulders, and when he looks at the clock, is shocked to realize it’s almost midnight.

Melinda makes her way back over to him, clearly a little bit tipsy herself, and she giggles as she presses her shoulder into the wall.

“You’re not having fun!” she calls over the music, and Phil shrugs, leaning closer.

“You are!” he shouts back, and she looks at him for a long moment, shaking her head with a bemused expression curling her lips. The thought that she’s going to be his midnight kiss flits through his head, and his heart picks up speed.

She’s pulled away just as the countdown starts, and part of him knew it had just been too good to be true.

Phil rings in the New Year alone surrounded by dozens of drunken students, watching Melinda kiss some senior level cadet with a terrible mullet, and sighs quietly to himself before he finishes his beer and heads back to his dorm.

_

Senior year, they go all out for the New Year’s Eve party- Phil honestly would not be surprised if they set a building on fire with the sheer amount of fireworks they have set up. There’s enough alcohol to kill ten horses, and even Melinda has a dorky headband on her head proclaiming the holiday, though it’s precariously tilted with the clock poised to strike midnight.

Everyone is drunk- Garrett is pouring shots for the freshman in the corner, gleefully attempting to get someone sick, and Phil just lets him be instead of fighting with him.

“This is going to be a bitch to clean up,” Melinda’s voice floats up from his left side, and Phil snorts in amusement.

“As though you participate in clean up anyway,” he replies, and Melinda shrugs, taking another swig of her drink. Her headband is entirely crooked, nearly falling off her head, and Phil reaches up to help fix it. “Hang on, let me-”

He reaffixes the headband and tucks some loose strands behind Melinda’s ears, and her lips are curved into a smile when he pulls back, admiring his handiwork.

The television starts the countdown, and when he turns back around Phil belatedly realizes Melinda is no longer beside him; he spots her with her hand twined in the hair of the cutest girl in the entire Communications Academy just as the clock strikes midnight.

“Another banner year,” Phil says, lifting his drink and finishing it before opening another beer.

_

Melinda and Andrew’s house is filled with people- Phil can tell Melinda hates it, despite the smile she has plastered on, but her concession to living in the suburbs had been becoming friends with the neighbors, and it was their year to host the annual New Year’s Eve block bash.

To her civilian neighbors, he’s her coworker at the insurance company she works for- the cover she’d started using once they moved in and didn’t want to disclose her SHIELD affiliation.

“If one more person asks me for the recipe for the jalapeno poppers, I’m going to throw the platter in their faces,” Melinda huffs as she reenters the kitchen, and Phil lifts an eyebrow from where he’s plating more finger foods from the oven.

“You’re the one who wanted the house with a picket fence,” he reminders her, and Melinda sticks her tongue out him. “Besides, don’t your neighbors know your husband does all the cooking in this house?”

“That’s just mean. I put those potato skins and mozzarella sticks in the oven all by myself,” Melinda defends herself, and Phil smiles at that.

From the living room, they can hear the countdown start, and Phil shoos Melinda off. She lingers for a long moment before she disappears off to find Andrew, and as the clock strikes midnight, Phil downs his entire flute of champagne before digging around and pulling out a bottle of whiskey and pouring himself two fingers.

_

Somehow, he’s shocked by the knock on his door on New Year’s Eve.

He’d been off with Stark for weeks, and Melinda had barely spoken to him. He saw her when he could; checked in on her, made sure her apartment had food. Tried to assure himself that she was doing alright- or at least as alright as she could be.

Melinda has two bottle of whiskey in her hands and a pizza box, and she offers the hint of a smile when he opens the door to find her on his doorstep.

Phil lets her in, and Melinda searches through his cabinets for two clean glasses as he grabs plates and napkins, setting them up on the coffee table. Melinda brings the glasses and the bottles over, and settles beside him.

“I can’t believe you watch this crap,” she says softly, referring to the countdown show he had on, but she sits back with her pizza and watches it quietly.

They sit in companionable silence, eating and drinking and watching the show together. Phil’s eyes feel heavy as it grows closer to midnight, and he realizes how old he is- he goes to say something to Melinda, only to find her eyes closed as well, still clutching her glass of whiskey.

Phil’s face softens as he looks at her, and as the countdown finishes, he leans his own head back against the couch.

“Happy New Year, May.”

_

They’re both tired by the time they get back to their time and their Earth.

And with some quiet communication, and easy agreement, they cash in on a little vacation time and head up north to snowy cabin in the New York mountains. It’s remote and secluded, and the getaway both of them need after their time in space.

It takes them some time to even realize it’s New Year’s Eve- the text from Daisy reminds them, and Phil can’t help the noise of amusement that leaves him, drawing a curious look from Melinda.

“You know in thirty years, I have never kissed you at midnight,” he tells her, and Melinda’s eyebrows crinkle for a moment before she lifted a hand, brushing her thumb over his eyebrow. She glances at the clock, and gives him a small smile.

“It’s only a few minutes past. I think you can remedy that,” she replies, hand sliding to cup his jaw.

When they lean forward it’s mutual, and Melinda wraps her arms around his neck, keeping him close even when they part. His forehead presses to hers, and his fingers stroke through her hair gently.

“Worth the wait?” she asks quietly, and Phil strokes her cheek, his prosthetic hand lighting up wherever it touched her skin.

“You’ve always been worth the wait, Melinda,” he tells her seriously, and her cheeks color as she gives a soft little gasp, pressing closer to him. She kisses him again, softly, hands pressed to both of his cheeks.

“Happy New Year, Phil,” she whispers, brushing her nose over his softly.

“I think this is going to be the best one yet,” he replies, hugging her to him, and she hums in reply as she molds herself to him. “Happy New Year, Melinda.”


End file.
